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| Statement |
|---|
| This was our 14th consecutive quarter of double-digit growth for our fruit snacks business |
| And then I think the other thing that’s important is, my confidence in the demand side of the business is allowing us to prioritize our leadership efforts in the pursuit of operational excellence |
| Operating income increased by 48% to $5.1 million, driven by profitable volume growth |
| It’s coming online in the first quarter, and we expect it to be positively impacting profits in the second quarter |
| After my discussions with the team, seeing the pipeline on the horizon and validating those observations with our Board, I am also confident in our plan to deliver $125 million of adjusted EBITDA run rate by the end of 2025 or in early 2026 |
| Adjusted earnings from continuing operations more than doubled to $5.7 million compared to $2.6 million in the prior-year period due to improved operating performance more than offsetting increases in interest expense and depreciation |
| For the quarter revenues increased 14% year-over-year, a sharp sequential acceleration from the 6% increase we delivered in Q3 and in line with our long-term growth algorithm |
| Our own brand continues to deliver the highest growth rates, followed by our contract manufacturing business |
| We continued to see similar growth rates from each of our 3 primary growth levers, share gains with existing customers, adding new customers and expanding our total addressable market |
| Plant-based milks, led by oat-based offerings, had another strong quarter of growth, including significant gains in foodservice |
| Of all our product groups, fruit snacks had the highest growth rate for the quarter at 31%, reflecting strong customer demand that leveraged our expanded capacity |
| Adjusted EBITDA increased 17.5% to over $22 million as higher utilization of capacity investments further leveraged our volume-driven revenue growth to increase profitability |
| We had the best quarter of the year in terms of plant operations, as all four of our plant-based milks facilities performed well in meeting the strong customer demand |
| Lastly, we continue to have a strong pipeline of additional growth opportunities |
| In addition to the growth that’s naturally coming our way via the growth of our blue chip customer base, we are growing via share gains in our existing customers, we are growing via new customer acquisition, and we continue to grow via TAM expansion |
| I am confident in the guidance due to the momentum and the competitively advantaged business model that we’ve built |
| Growth in oat milk was incredibly robust and remains a key driver as it has been for over 3 years |
| We also delivered sizable gains in creamers and tea along with continued ramp up of our protein shake business |
| The operations and R&D teams have done an outstanding job in scaling our new plant in Texas, truly an impressive accomplishment |
| In fruit snacks, revenue was up 31% to over $27 million, driven by volume growth, which was enabled by our capacity expansion in Omak, Washington that came online late in Q3 |
| The journey from beginning to end was incredibly rewarding, and it is exciting to be reporting a strong fourth quarter today, along with a solid outlook for 2024 |
| We had a strong fourth quarter |
| Overall revenue growth was volume-driven and very strong |
| And as we – we may – I think we answered this in one of the earlier questions, that’s why also if tracked channels returns to sort of growing, we believe that would be upside to our outlook for 2024 |
| In Q4 we continued to see very strong trends for plant-based milks in the foodservice channel, which as a reminder, we estimate to be at least 4x larger than all of tracked channels |
| Also, protein shakes continued to show very robust growth in tracked channels, up 40% in the last 13 weeks versus prior year |
| When taken as a whole, these observations give me strong confidence in our operating model and our sales momentum in the New Year |
| When reflecting on the past 5 years, I’m extremely proud of the transformation of the company |
| All the initiatives that helped to shape and transform the business over the past several years under Joe’s leadership have clearly positioned us as a growth company |
| From a pacing standpoint, as you would expect, we see the back half of the year to be somewhat stronger than the first half with a split of approximately 48% first half and 52% second half |
| Statement |
|---|
| Adjusted gross margin was 17.3%, down 50 basis points from the prior-year period, net of absorbing an 80 basis point increase in depreciation related to new production equipment |
| Private label was down in Q4 due to competitive dynamics in the broth category as we foreshadowed on the Q2 call |
| This small business was our last remaining frozen asset and the supply chain had become highly inefficient after the divestiture of frozen fruit |
| The decline in our ingredient revenue stemmed from the strategic shift we have discussed several times to prioritize the internal use of oat base versus selling it externally as an ingredient |
| The other thing that I would say is we certainly have visibility to what our customers who operate in tracked channels were forecasting for ‘24, and they’re forecasting in tracked channels again, not for the entire category, I think we’ve explained well enough that the entire category is growing mid-single digits, but tracked channels, we see some softness there |
| And if I just kind of follow-up on that, so maybe ask the question another way, because I think this was an issue a few quarters ago where maybe some assumptions were made about the category, the category softened and some plans changed |
| Recall that much of our revenue is derived from untracked channels |
| Even with that, I think if you look at the supply chain in total and what we do is essentially break it down into its component parts, everywhere from long-term planning to procurement to inventory to conversion to distribution, there are points along that line that you find that maybe there’s some leakage in either productivity or opportunity |
| And I’m wondering, it’s tough to look outside of tracked channels |
| I think that’s absolutely true that they have been a little bit more conservative |
| And we’re not done for two reasons |
| Just want to make sure I understand, to the extent that this is possible to look at it this way, what needs to be assumed for category growth that underpins your outlook? Are we still sort of like on whole mid-single digits? Is it a little bit softer than that, a little bit stronger than that? I just want to make sure I am sort of centered there |
| In Q4, it was a little bit lower, the percentage |
| And I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little envious of your future escaped |
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